The Ballad of Rose Quartz
by Asver
Summary: This is a ballad depicting the last battle between the Crystal and Homeworld Gems prior to the end of the war on Earth. This will be slightly-AU. The T rating is for battlefield violence. Even if you don't typically like poetry, ballads are fun so give it a glance. Don't be fooled by word count; poems say much in few words. I don't own Steven Universe, as you know.
1. Chapter 1

The bloody light of dawn down shone

Upon the grassy rise

And there she stood, the traitor Rose,

The stars within her eyes.

A sword of burly steel in hand

And shield in sure her grip,

Her voice above the murmured words

Cut sharply like a whip.

"For justice! We with hearts condemn

The pillage of this land,"

She stood as statues tower, saint

With flowing hair so grand.

Her waving dress of old for plates

And chains she'd traded well

So many looked on her and feared;

Her foes to quaking fell.

Beside her Pearl, devoted, sword

Now drawn, and Garnet fused,

She fire and ice, with Amethyst

Stood proud though battered, bruised.

Beyond her loyal "generals"

Her crystal rebels roared

Their chanting battle cries, with drawn

Each axe, each spear, each sword.

Her all vindictive enemies

From down the valley glared.

Their frightful leader Diamond Black

Had come quite well prepared.

Her hair of ebony, it framed

A rabid face, her gaze

A vulture's hungry stare, her heart

Aflame in hatred's blaze.

"The traitors all shall die this day!

Turn gems to shattered dust!"

Their canons trained their laser aims.

"Kill Rose we shall, we must!"

With Diamond Black were fiends of flesh,

The gems' most vicious lot:

There Topaz slavered, Emerald shrieked,

Asbestos stank of rot.

Said Rose, "Bring out the canons now,

Our foes they do the same."

With heavy fear the quiet gems

Awaited: "Take your aim!"

Said Diamond Black, "Now fire you fools!"

There rang a shot, the first;

A Sapphire 'mong the Crystal Gems

To ground she fell and burst.


	2. Chapter 2

With fury, Rose said, "Fire at will!"

And will her gems all had

So foes fell down in screaming heaps

Despite in armor clad.

The sizzling crack of laser shots

With howling darkly merged

And up the hill at Black's behest

The enemy tide surged.

Though Amethyst took steps, would run

To meet advancing foes,

"Hold back and wait; to us they'll climb

And tire themselves," said Rose.

"Throw spears upon their heads!" cried Rose

And volleys tore the air

To split the facets, shatter clean

The lives of gems once fair.

The vanguard clashed and chaos rained

As gems surged left and right.

The smoke that from the lasers oozed,

It darkened skies once bright.

Among the tides of battered gems

Young Amethyst did try

To tell her friend from foe but found

The chaos tricked the eye.

But little room to crack a whip

Exists on such a field

A death blow meant for her, though, struck

Upon the Rose Quartz shield.

But Rose to other fights she turned

And Amethyst, alone,

Herself found facing great a foe;

With malice Topaz shone.

The gems, the crystal enemies,

Attacked with vengeful strikes

So whip and spear became a whirl

As none had seen the likes.

As Topaz ripped her weapon free

And leapt to make the kill

Quick Amethyst with clever whip

Caught Topaz, held her still.

Then Aqua, Rose's loyal friend,

With axe cruel Topaz struck

And shattered Topaz, foe of Rose;

The fiend'd worn out her luck.

So Aqua with her partner, bright

Young Citrine, went her way

And gems down stepped on Topaz shards

Now crushed into the clay.

Her back against a boulder's side,

Good Pearl performed her dance,

A lunging whirl, a deadly game,

To duck each spear and lance.

A dozen gems of red and blue

Lay shattered at her feet.

Then Emerald did shriek and said,

"You, Pearl, I shall defeat!"

Those jaguar eyes of Emerald

Emerged from war's dark throng,

Her locks a deep and glistening green

Her build both tall and strong.

With lunges lighting fast the pair

Approached and clashed their blades;

They leapt and pranced as horses prance

In soldiers' long parades.

A roar screamed Pearl. Her foe had ripped

A cut into her side,

But fury came, to fail her Rose

This Pearl would not abide.

She ducked and lunged and cut the leg

Of Emerald her foe

And when stumbled her enemy

Swift Pearl there laid her low.

Through Emerald's small, chest-set, gem

The sword so neatly cleaved,

And for the end of such a fiend

Not even allies grieved.


	3. Third Section

Among the crowds fierce Garnet fought,

A whirling beast who killed

With fire and ice so down like rain

The shards in rivers spilled.

A look of horror filled her eyes

For terrors she had seen;

To her it seemed the peaceful times

Had simply never been.

A cloud of ravens split the sky,

Then dark murders of crows.

Attracted by the shining shards,

Like banshees they arose.

With grubby talons, greedy beaks,

They snatched the shards so bright;

They fought for "best" among themselves,

Their screeches harsh with spite.

The hill was trampled down to mud

And filthy down in dirt

One found the injured, coughing gems,

Their bodies badly hurt,

But one who dared regenerate

Would die beneath a boot;

To finish such defenseless prey

Such casual means would suit.

The steady roar of clashing blades,

The cries of raven throats,

All forged a brutal symphony

Of cacophonic notes.

As Garnet cursed necessity

(Such battles must be fought)

Among the heaving waves of forms

One foe for Garnet sought.

Asbestos, she not quite a gem,

Approached with crashing stride,

A mix of mud and crystal shards

Was spattered 'cross her side.

A grey and matted, hulking form

With twisted, yellow teeth,

Asbestos drew two swords quite long

From each respective sheathe.

"A worthless fusion," then she hissed,

"You I shall kill with ease,"

And every word it stank of death,

Her breath foul on the breeze.

Fierce Garnet bid her take her shot.

The blades they whirled like storms

And in the smoky air they carved

Most menacing of forms.

The steely blade with wrist guard clashed;

Asbestos leapt aside

While Garnet, she with clever tongue,

Her enemy defied.

"Don't dare to speak to me that way!"

Asbestos raging screamed,

And flung herself into the fray.

A whirlwind she seemed.

The clash of swords on wrist-guards filled

The air with eerie rings,

A sound to make good gems forget

All light and happy things.

Asbestos carved a wicked gash

Upon fierce Garnet's cheek

And Garnet landed such a punch

As made Asbestos shriek.

They lashed and tumbled, filthy soon,

And tired 'fore too long.

They both were soon exhausted though

Enduring, quick, and strong.

An even match the pair appeared,

The victor picked by chance

And chance decided when once tripped

Asbestos 'pon a lance.

Her foe off balance, Garnet took

The opportunity

To smash the gem in shoulder set;

The grey shards falling free.

Asbestos died at Garnet's feet,

Another for the pile,

And all around the battle reigned

For mile on gloomy mile.


	4. Fourth Section

Cruel Black, a bear in build, she walked

The fields and stomped to flat

Unfortunates who crossed her path,

And muttered, "Filthy rat."

Respect for neither foe nor friend.

Her allies 'fore her fled

For "Slackers," as the slow were called

Beneath her boots fell dead.

She killed her own, but Rose's kin

She slaughtered left and right.

Black sparkled 'neath a film of shards,

A grisly, awful sight.

Carnelian, good Rose's friend,

Who fought with long a lance,

Black caught and strangled, smashed to dead,

With but a second's glance.

Then Iolite attacked great Black,

Vain her hope to keep

Black back from allies who could, hurt,

But slowly crawl and creep.

For Iolite cruel Diamond Black

Her heavy axe did wield

And with three blows good Iolite

Was dead upon the field.

Those Iolite had aimed to save

The next three victims made,

Their gems with chatters shattering

Beneath that deadly blade.

The earth agleam with rainbows, shards

Of every shade and hew,

Cruel Black with hacking laughter mocked

The many that she slew.

Across the fields the Diamond Black

Destroyed and killed and maimed:

Fluorite, Jade, and Kyanite,

For murder black was famed.

Then Aqua, Citrine, back to back,

The devil diamond faced.

Around to strike her from the back

Young Citrine swiftly raced

While Aqua, quite distracting, threw

Whatever she could find,

Some rocks, some spears, some armor plates,

She made cruel Black to mind.

But Black could not be fooled for long

She whirled 'fore Citrine's stroke

And in that crushing, clawing grasp

Young Citrine screamed and broke.

Now Aqua roared in agony,

Her life-long lover dead,

And lunged upon the Diamond Black

To cling upon her head.

While Black attempted to dislodge

Her sobbing tormentor,

The two became the strangest scene

That'd been in all the war.

Aquamarine, her weapon lost,

With fingers clawed at eyes

And left upon the diamond's face

Some cuts of large a size.

Her fury raised, fierce Black then tore

Her off, her threw to ground

And there her dusty shards by friends

Who mourned were later found.


	5. Fifty Section

The fading sun began to set,

Its rays dyed red by smoke.

The first raccoons came seeking shards,

For they had just awoke.

Survivors roamed in fields of death,

Of shards and shredded forms.

The rumbles of the warring gems

Did sound as distant storms.

Up steep a slope limped Pearl with leg

All tattered, broken through,

The last revenge of great a foe,

The last of foes she slew.

When Pearl collapsed upon the crest,

Her face in twists of pain,

She searched for Rose, for allies near,

But searched for them in vain.

Both Amethyst and Garnet, though,

Approached her stealthily,

Both hoping to avoid the gaze

Of any enemy.

For Amethyst a bandaged hand

Was all the damage done,

But Garnet who with both arms fought

Now used but only one.

"Come Pearl," said Amethyst as they

Approached their ally's perch.

"We're headed down, we hope to find

Our leader if we search."

With shake of head, poor Pearl replied,

"You see I cannot walk.

Perhaps it's best to leave me here,"

She coughed, could barely talk.

With right arm useless, badly maimed,

Strong Garnet could not lift

But wouldn't leave her friend to fall

Into doom's ugly rift.

So Amethyst, though not so strong

As Garnet, snatched her friend

And carried her while Garnet watched,

Prepared to all defend.

The trio faced exhausted gems

With injuries like theirs,

But three were they and enemies

Came single or in pairs.

A leader soon the trio found,

But not _their_ general.

The three all froze in awful dread

At Black's marauding call.

The three were badly hurt while she

Who faced them bore but cuts.

With vigor Black through bodies plowed,

Ignoring rocks and ruts.

"Another three I'll count as kills;

The number's rather high.

Come here my worthless gems and learn

How traitors go to die!"

The three, their faces grim, prepared

To face the frightful Black.

Compared to her in strength, in health,

The three had great a lack.

Though bear in build, cruel Diamond Black

Was none too slow to strike.

She moved with lightning speed, a fiend

As few had seen the like.

The three fell back against a cliff

And there they made their stand,

With Pearl who lacked one graceful leg

As Garnet lacked one hand.

With whip, with spear, with flying rocks

They struck at Black's great head,

But forward still cruel Diamond Black

With deadly purpose sped.

With axe she cast pale Pearl aside

And made to strike the blow

But found that Garnet grasped her arm

And forced the strike to slow.

With roar she Garnet flung aside

And turned to kill her first

But Amethyst tripped Black with whip.

The diamond sprawled and cursed.

Upon her feet within a flash,

Cruel Black struck Amethyst

Across the face full force, but not

With axe but rather wrist

So Amethyst collapsed to lie

Unconscious, deathly still.

Black turned to finish Garnet first,

Her twin gem's shards to spill.


	6. Sixth Section

The axe went up and straight fell sure

But struck with odd a clang;

Across the field the clash of steel

On shield so harshly rang.

A righteous fury burned in eyes

Of Rose, the traitor queen,

Unspeakable hatred and pain

Those starry eyes had seen.

"How few are left alive tonight,"

The fuming Rose Quartz roared.

"I hate that things have come to this,

I hate that we have warred,

"But I will not regret your death;

You kill without a thought.

The deaths of foe and friend alike

By hundreds you have wrought."

"Oh Rose, old friend, how dare you think

That you could bring my death?

I'll kill your friends and gloating laugh

Then snuff your final breath."

"But gems don't need to breathe," said Rose

And leapt, upon that note,

Into the fray her long sword drawn

And aimed for Black's thick throat.

The axe came down with awful strength

And fell upon the shield,

Insignia in center set

Its promise ne'er to yield.

Among the scattered crystal shards,

Among the scattered crows,

The generals in fury struck

And parried brutal blows.

They roared their pain at nicks and cuts.

As Rose cut Black's left cheek

The diamond foe cut gouges 'cross

An arm once clean and sleek.

The panting pair for hours they fought.

The moon in mourning came

To cry for endless shattered gems,

To cry at such a shame.

As dawn in gentle hues arose

Upon horizon's edge

The generals still fought, now perched

On thin a tilting ledge.

The drop below, two hundred feet,

Would kill should one land wrong.

Combatants stumbled dragged their feet

For they'd fought far too long.

Then Rose, her fury burning still

For all the friends she'd lost,

Decided that she'd end it there

Whatever be the cost.

So Rose set on a reckless charge

And tackled Black full force.

The two with shrieks fell from the cliff

And physics ran its course.

A crash announced return to earth

Of both good Rose and Black,

And following the impact's "whump"

Was heard a sharper crack.

The spectators (there were good lots)

Awaited, baited breaths,

To learn if both their generals

Had faced that hour their deaths.

Swift Pearl, anticipating loss,

in dread stood straight and still

As stone and waited, begged the fates

For Rose with all her will.


	7. Final Part

Good Rose then stirred and raised herself.

Upon her sword she leaned

And limped to face her enemy,

To face the diamond fiend.

Cruel Black, her gem with harsh a crack,

Could then not even speak.

Now whispered Rose, her fury strong,

"You used to call me weak

"Because I cared for people, things

For justice, beauty, truth,

But weakness that is not nor is

It foolishness of youth.

"Belief is that which gives me strength."

She raised her sword and thrust

It straight through Black's decaying gem

Straight down to Earth's cool crust.

She stood, great Rose, and roared her threat

To gems, both near and far,

"We will protect this world from they

Who'd all it beauty mar.

"The battle's over. Leave this world,

You enemies of mine,

We'll draft ourselves a treaty soon.

I know you'll beg to sign.

"And any that we catch we'll kill,

No mercy on this day.

You leave or you surrender, else

Your crystal hides we'll flay!"

The fleeing gems to warp pads raced

And vanished five by five.

Of warp pads few indeed were used

For few remained alive.

Amid the smoking, grisly plains

The victors, silent, stood.

They'd won but all, in sorrow now,

Felt hardly as they should.

No joy, no shouts for victory, parades,

Or happy laughs, none joyed

Were they, the Crystal Gems, too much'd

Been lost, destroyed.

So many thousands dead, and more

Had disappeared, and worse

They'd never Homeworld see again,

Their chosen bitter curse.

Great Rose she sheathed her sword and said

That all her friends might hear,

"Today we've gained a victory

But at a price most dear.

"This is a time to mourn, the time

To bitter sorrows face,

But also time to reminisce,

For we all love this place

"And they who died did love it, too.

For all the hardship braved,

Remember that through sacrifice

A luscious world was saved."

Another dawn on planet Earth,

Their lonely exile's first,

The grisly plains, the scorch-black fields

In bloody light immersed,

But they who watched now watched with hope

That many long years on

The sun on Earth they'd saved would rise

With such a striking dawn.


End file.
